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PARTNERS
TUESDAY 21ST JUNE 2011
NATION&WORLD
Mixed signals in
Assad speech
Fielding sinks
Abbott’s plebiscite
TONY Abbott’s
parliamentary bid for a
plebiscite on a carbon
tax is dead after the
opposition leader failed to
win the backing of a key
crossbench senator.
Family First senator Steve
Fielding is refusing to back
legislation... Read more
Roxon rejects plea on
drugs
HEALTH Minister Nicola
Roxon has rejected a plea from
a coalition of 60 health groups
to expand the government’s list
of subsidised medicines, leaving
thousands of seriously ill
Australians without affordable
access to new treatments.
Read the full report at The
Age.
NATO admits Libya air
IMED LAMLOUM : AFP
NATO has admitted carrying out
an air strike on a Libyan military
target in the Sorman area west
of the capital as the regime said
that 15 people, including three
children, were killed in the
attack.
The government spokesman
slammed as a “cowardly terrorist
act which cannot be justified” an
attack on an estate of a veteran
comrade of leader Muammar
Gaddafi.
NATO, reversing an initial
denial, acknowledged its
warplanes hit Sorman but
insisted the target was military.
A statement said a precision
air strike was launched against
a “high-level” command and
control node in the... Read more
Tunisian
president and
wife sentenced
TUNIS: Toppled Tunisian
president Zine el Abidine
Ben Ali and his wife
have been sentenced in
absentia to 35 years in
prison each in a trial for
misappropriating public
funds, a judge said.
Read more
DAMASCUS: President Bashar al-
Assad says dialogue could lead to a
new constitution and even the end of
his Baath party’s monopoly on power,
but he is refusing to reform Syria under
“chaos.”
His remarks were condemned by pro-
democracy activists who vowed that
the “revolution” - now in its fourth
month - must go on while Washington
called for “action not words.”
US State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said: “What is
important now is action, not words. A
speech is just words.”
European foreign ministers agreed to
beef up sanctions on the embattled
president over his regime’s deadly
crackdown on protests... Read more
Baby taken, mother vanishes
A COUPLE who gave accommodation to a teenage girl in Kingsvale,
near Young in southern NSW, might have agreed that the man
should make the girl pregnant and they would then take the baby,
Parramatta Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.
Read Michael Brown’s report at smh.com.au .
Hammocks “good
for sleep”
A TEAM of Swiss and French
scientists have published
a study that suggests the
rocking motion of a hammock
improves sleep quality and
helps people get to sleep faster.
The study included 12 male
volunteers who were not
habitual nappers... Read more
Walmart wins sex-bias case
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court threw out the largest
employment discrimination case in the nation’s history. The suit,
against Wal-Mart Stores, had sought to consolidate the claims of
as many as 1.5 million women on the theory that the company had
discriminated against them in pay and promotion decisions.
Read the full report at the New York Times.
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<h1>Mixed signals in Assad speech</h1>
<p>DAMASCUS: President Bashar al-Assad says dialogue could lead to a new constitution and even the end of his Baath party's monopoly on power, but he is refusing to reform Syria under "chaos." </p>
<p>His remarks were condemned by pro-democracy activists who vowed that the "revolution" - now in its fourth month - must go on while Washington called for "action not words." </p>
<p>US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: "What is important now is action, not words. A speech is just words." </p>
<p>European foreign ministers agreed to beef up sanctions on the embattled president over his regime's deadly crackdown on protests, with some calling on him to reform or "step down." </p>
<p>Assad acknowledged in his televised speech that Syria had reached a "turning point." </p>
<p>He said dialogue was under way that could lead to a new constitution and raised the possibility of elections and an end to the ruling Baath party's dominance, a key opposition demand, while warning the economy was on the verge of collapse. </p>
<p>"We can say that national dialogue is the slogan of the next stage," Assad said. "The national dialogue could lead to amendments of the constitution or to a new constitution." </p>
<p>Reform was "a total commitment in the interest of the nation," he added in his third speech to the nation since the protests began. </p>
<p>Assad offered condolences to the families of "martyrs" from the unrest rocking the country since mid-March, but said there could be "no development without stability, no reform in the face of sabotage and chaos." </p>
<p>"We make a distinction between those (with legitimate grievances) and the saboteurs who represent a small group which has tried to exploit the goodwill of the Syrian people for its own ends," he said. </p>
<p>Witnesses and opposition activists said the speech was followed by protests in the northern city of Aleppo, in the flashpoint province of Idlib in the northwest, the central regions of Homs and Hama and in Damascus suburbs. </p>
<p>"The protesters condemned the speech which branded them as saboteurs, extremists," the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP by telephone. </p>
<p>"The demonstrators are calling for freedom and dignity." </p>
<p>Abdel Rahman said 60 demonstrators in Aleppo were arrested over the past 24 hours. </p>
<p>According to his group, the violence has so far claimed the lives of 1,310 civilians and 341 security force members. </p>
<p>Opposition activists said Assad's speech failed to specify concrete steps -- namely the pullout of troops from besieged cities -- and only deepened the crisis. </p>
<p>The Coordination Committee, an umbrella group of activists, called for "the revolution to carry on until all its aims have been achieved." </p>
<p>"We consider any dialogue useless that does not turn the page on the current regime," it said in a statement received by AFP. </p>
<p>Prominent human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, who was freed from five years in prison last month, called Assad's speech "disappointing." </p>
<p>"The key demands made by the people were not mentioned and the existence of a political crisis has been ignored," he said. </p>
<p>British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Twitter Assad's speech was "disappointing & unconvincing." </p>
<p>"Little new on how reforms will be implemented & when, or how he will end violence," he tweeted. </p>
<p>French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters in Luxembourg: "Some believe that there's still time for him to change his ways and commit to a (reform) process. For my part, I doubt it. I think that the point of no return has been reached." </p>
<p>In Brussels, EU foreign ministers agreed a resolution that the European Union was "actively" preparing to "expand its restrictive measures by additional designations with a view to achieving a fundamental change of policy by the Syrian leadership without delay." </p>
<p>It also stated that Assad's "credibility and leadership depend on the implementation of the reforms he himself announced." </p>
<p>The EU has been looking at adding firms and a dozen people to a blacklist of 23 people targeted by an asset freeze and travel ban which already includes Assad and key allies. </p>
<p>Western governments have also been circulating a draft UN Security Council resolution that would condemn Assad's crackdown on dissent, but Russia warned it would veto any such move. </p>
<p>Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the Financial Times that he feared the text would be used as cover for Libya-style military action -- which he described a "meaningless military operation." </p>
<p>Meanwhile, as International Committee of the Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger began a two-day trip to Syria, the authorities took diplomats and journalists to what they said was the site of a mass grave of people killed by "armed groups." </p>
<p>The third such "mass grave" near the restive northern town of Jisr al-Shughur, the focus of military operations since June 12, contained at least 29 bodies, a Syrian military source told AFP. </p>
<p>AFP </p>
<h1>Fielding sinks Abbott's plebiscite</h1>
<p>TONY Abbott's parliamentary bid for a plebiscite on a carbon tax is dead after the opposition leader failed to win the backing of a key crossbench senator. </p>
<p>Family First senator Steve Fielding is refusing to back legislation for what he labelled "a glorified opinion poll".</p>
<p>Mr Abbott needed the votes of both senators Fielding and his crossbench colleague, Nick Xenophon, to win upper house backing for his plebiscite. </p>
<p>"It is a political stunt and I won't be backing it," Senator Fielding told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. </p>
<p>"It is an $80 million glorified opinion poll that isn't going to be binding." </p>
<p>"Seriously, why should we waste $80 million on a glorified opinion poll just because Tony has got a problem?". </p>
<p>While the legislation has hit a stumbling block in the Senate, Mr Abbott has yet to to win over sufficient crossbench support in the lower house. </p>
<p>The Australian Greens, in both houses, and independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor have already indicated they won't back a plebiscite. </p>
<p>Another independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, wants more details from Mr Abbott before making a decision. </p>
<p>Senator Xenophon said it was important for Australians to have a say on the issue, provided the question was not loaded. </p>
<p>"The fair thing to do is have a vote on a price on carbon," he told reporters in Canberra. </p>
<p>"So long as the wording is fair, then I think it ought to be supported." </p>
<p>Labor senator Doug Cameron said he found himself in rare agreement with Senator Fielding. </p>
<p>"I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Senator Fielding," he told reporters. </p>
<p>Senator Cameron took a swipe at Mr Abbott, saying stunts could not "take you to The Lodge".</p>
<p>"What takes you to The Lodge is good policy and the trust of the Australian people." </p>
<p>Opposition senate leader Eric Abetz said he would have expected Senator Fielding to support the coalition bill, describing him as "a vociferous opponent" of anything to do with a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme. </p>
<p>"I would have thought he would have welcomed the opportunity for the Australian people to cast their judgement," he told reporters. </p>
<p>Senator Abetz has not abandoned all hope that the bill will pass the Senate after he introduces it to the upper house later on Tuesday. </p>
<p>"Let's wait and see what the Senate determines," he said. </p>
<p>"I don't give up hope until such time as the vote is taken." </p>
<p>Independent MP Bob Katter offered "tremendous support" for the plebiscite, describing Mr Abbott's move as a "brilliant strategy".</p>
<p>"Because the people most wanting it are in the ALP (Australian Labor Party)," he told reporters. </p>
<p>"I've really got to hand this one to him (Tony Abbott) - it's a good one.” </p>
<p>AAP</p>
<h1>Roxon rejects plea on drugs</h1>
<p>HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has rejected a plea from a coalition of 60 health groups to expand the government's list of subsidised medicines, leaving thousands of seriously ill Australians without affordable access to new treatments. </p>
<p>Read the full report at The Age. </p>
<h1>NATO admits Libya air strike</h1>
<h2>IMED LAMLOUM : AFP</h2>
<p>NATO has admitted carrying out an air strike on a Libyan military target in the Sorman area west of the capital as the regime said that 15 people, including three children, were killed in the attack. </p>
<p>The government spokesman slammed as a "cowardly terrorist act which cannot be justified" an attack on an estate of a veteran comrade of leader Muammar Gaddafi. </p>
<p>NATO, reversing an initial denial, acknowledged its warplanes hit Sorman but insisted the target was military. </p>
<p>A statement said a precision air strike was launched against a "high-level" command and control node in the Sorman area early on Monday. </p>
<p>"This strike will greatly degrade Gaddafi regime forces' ability to carry on their barbaric assault against the Libyan people," said Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO operations in Libya. </p>
<p>"Wherever Gaddafi tries to hide his command and control facilities, we will find them and destroy them." </p>
<p>A NATO official said the alliance was aware of regime allegations that 15 people, including three children, were killed but had no way of verifying them. </p>
<p>Another official had said earlier the alliance had not conducted any air strikes in the Sorman area, 70 kilometres from Tripoli. </p>
<p>Escorted there by authorities, journalists saw damaged buildings on the sprawling estate of Khuwildi Hemidi, who served on the Revolution Command Council Gaddafi created when he seized power in 1969. </p>
<p>Journalists also witnessed a number of dead animals among the peacocks, ostriches and gazelles kept in the estate's grounds. </p>
<p>Reporters were also taken to Sabratha hospital some 10 kilometres from Sorman, where an AFP correspondent saw nine bodies, including those of two children. They also saw body parts, including a child's head. </p>
<p>A second Libyan official charged that eight missiles had struck the estate at 4am local time on Monday. </p>
<p>He said most of the dead were members of Hemidi's family, including two of his grandchildren, and that others came from two more families living on the estate. </p>
<p>Hemidi himself escaped unharmed, the official added. </p>
<p>The new Libyan claim of civilian deaths came just hours after NATO acknowledged that one of its missiles had gone astray early on Sunday, hitting a residential neighbourhood of Tripoli. </p>
<p>Reporters were shown the bodies of five of the nine people Libyan officials said were killed in that strike, including a woman and two toddlers. </p>
<p>That admission was a major boost to the credibility of the Libyan regime two weeks after after officials showed journalists a little girl in hospital they said had been wounded in a NATO air strike, only for a member of medical staff to say she had been injured in a traffic accident. </p>
<p>It was also an embarrassment for the alliance which has led the bombing campaign in Libya under a UN mandate to protect civilians. </p>
<p>Also on Monday, at a meeting in Luxembourg, European Union foreign ministers urged the use of frozen funds to finance Libya's opposition. </p>
<p>The central bank in the United Arab Emirates on Monday froze the assets of 19 Libyan figures in line with UN sanctions against Gaddafi's regime. </p>
<p>The rebels have warned that they are running out of money as their struggle enters a fifth month and called on governments in the NATO-led coalition to make good their promises of funds. </p>
<p>AFP</p>
<h1>Tunisian president and wife sentenced</h1>
<p>TUNIS: Toppled Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and his wife have been sentenced in absentia to 35 years in prison each in a trial for misappropriating public funds, a judge said. </p>
<p>Judge Touhami Hafi on Monday also fined the exiled ex-leader 50 million dinars ($A34 million) and his wife Leila Trabelsi 41 million dinars on the first day of the trial. </p>
<p>He postponed a trial in a second case until June 30 to allow Ben Ali's lawyers more time to prepare their defence. </p>
<p>Ben Ali and Trabelsi were charged with embezzlement after the discovery of money and jewellery in their palace in the outskirts of Tunis. </p>
<p>The second case, targeting Ben Ali only, involves weapons and drugs allegedly found in a presidential residence in Carthage. </p>
<p>Ben Ali denied all the charges in advance of the trial through his lawyer Akram Azouri. </p>
<p>The former president, his wife and their two children fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia in January at the climax of the first of the Arab uprisings. </p>
<p>AFP</p>
<p>Read the full report at Aljazeera. </p>
<h1>Baby taken, mother vanishes</h1>
<p>A COUPLE who gave accommodation to a teenage girl in Kingsvale, near Young in southern NSW, might have agreed that the man should make the girl pregnant and they would then take the baby, Parramatta Coroner's Court heard yesterday.</p>
<p>Read Michael Brown’s report at smh.com.au.</p>
<h1>Walmart wins sex-bias case</h1>
<p>WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court threw out the largest employment discrimination case in the nation’s history. The suit, against Wal-Mart Stores, had sought to consolidate the claims of as many as 1.5 million women on the theory that the company had discriminated against them in pay and promotion decisions.</p>
<p>Read the full report at the New York Times.</p>
<h1>Hammocks “good for sleep”</h1>
<p>A TEAM of Swiss and French scientists have published a study that suggests the rocking motion of a hammock improves sleep quality and helps people get to sleep faster. </p>
<p>The study included 12 male volunteers who were not habitual nappers but who agreed to try an afternoon snooze on both a stationary bed and a rocking bed while machines scanned their brains, eye and muscle movements. </p>
<p>Women were excluded from the study because the menstrual cycle can have an effect on electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring, the researchers said on Monday. </p>
<p>Two of the 12 men had to be left out of the final analysis because one had a malfunctioning EEG and one experienced too much anxiety to fall asleep on the day he was assigned to the stationary bed. </p>
<p>But the remaining 10 subjects fell asleep faster in the rocking bed than they did in the still one and the quality of their 45-minute nap was deeper, said the findings published in the journal Current Biology. </p>
<p>"We observed a faster transition to sleep in each and every subject in the swinging condition, a result that supports the intuitive notion of facilitation of sleep associated with this procedure," said Michel Muhlethaler of the University of Geneva. </p>
<p>"Surprisingly, we also observed a dramatic boosting of certain types of sleep-related (brain wave) oscillations." </p>
<p>A midway sleep stage known as N2, which includes no rapid eye movements and usually makes up about half of a sound period of sleep, was observed to be longer in the hammock-type bed. </p>
<p>"The rocking bed also had a lasting effect on brain activity, increasing slow oscillations and bursts of activity known as sleep spindles. Those effects are consistent with a more synchronized neural activity characteristic of deeper sleep," said the study. </p>
<p>Researchers hope to examine whether the hammock effect would be similar in longer stretches of sleep, and would like to find out if it can be harnessed to help people who suffer from insomnia. </p>
<p>AFP</p>